This invention relates to carburetors and, more particularly, to a carburetor improvement for making a carburetor choke setting tamper resistant.
As a step toward reducing engine emissions, various tamperproofing requirements for automobile carburetors have been promulgated. The purpose of these regulations is to have various carburetor components made tamper resistant so a vehicle owner or mechanic cannot change factory settings after the vehicle is in private hands. One particular area of concern is choke operation. United States patent application Ser. No. 90,733, filed Nov. 2, 1979, discloses a tamper resistant choke pull-off mechanism which inhibits someone from tampering with the linkage between the choke and a remotely located vacuum pull-off unit. Not all carburetors, however, have such units. Further, there is the problem of someone wanting to change the factory adjustment between the bimetal choke coil and choke lever, which adjustment controls choke valve opening during engine warm-up. One approach to resolving this latter problem is disclosed in United States patent application Ser. No. 120,973, filed Feb. 13, 1980, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,269,792. This application describes an adjustable lever for use with the bimetal coil. While this arrangement does provide for proper adjustment, the tamper resistant arrangement described may not be used on all carburetors, so a tamper resistant means is still necessary for carburetors having the traditional coil-choke lever design.